And allowing preparers to help filers validate certain key data points in advance of filing their return would help avoid the time-consuming error resolution process.Īnother area for modernization is the IRS’ heavy reliance on paper forms that cannot be digitally scanned. Such a platform would allow tax preparers, with their clients’ permission, to securely access critical correspondence between the IRS and taxpayers online, reducing the need for millions of phone calls, faxes and mailed documents. Now is the time for the IRS to invest its new resources in a digital platform that empowers tax preparers to better assist filers to comply with their tax responsibilities and manage issues as they arise. One important step the IRS can take right away is to enhance its partnerships with professional tax preparers who submit the majority of the more than 165 million individual tax returns filed each year. Effective implementation of this customer service and systems modernization funding, which has historically enjoyed bipartisan support, can lay the foundation for an IRS that better serves all taxpayers, from small business owners to gig economy workers to the millions who rely on the Earned Income Tax Credit. If used effectively to truly serve America’s taxpayers, the $3.2 billion recently earmarked by Congress for IRS customer service improvements and $4.8 billion for business systems modernization can be a once-in-a-generation lifeline for an agency that desperately needs it. According to a report from the National Taxpayer Advocate, only 16 percent of calls to the agency’s service line for professional tax preparers were answered last year, an all-time low. It’s not just everyday Americans that struggle to get timely service from the IRS: As the head of Jackson Hewitt, the second-largest retail tax preparation company, I know firsthand that tax pros also face challenges getting IRS assistance for the customers they’re helping. Rather than a single high-profile collapse, the IRS has struggled for years to keep up as the tax code has grown increasingly complex, workforce attrition has risen and funding to the agency has lagged behind new mandates from Congress like the distribution of the COVID-19 stimulus payments.įrom delayed refunds to unopened mail to unanswered calls, improvements to the entire tax ecosystem that give taxpayers the experience they deserve are long overdue.
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